Good points.

I hope you indeed fixed ALL the races

I did. Those related to periodic backups.

I am not convinced about disk caching explanation because this should have made it a common problem for lots of application.

It is apparently a common problem for other applications too.
Here is another debate on the topic:
https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/post/48725

Your patch looks good but to avoid the disk caching problems you need to use FILE_FLAG_WRITE_THROUGH (or in your used Win API it should be _WRITE_THROUGH, I’m not sure) when creating/opening the files.

As I’ve written before in several places the problems are two:

1. fopen erases file contents on open with write permissions. This is causing the “no-space on disk” file contents loss problem and perhaps the problem you have encountered and are mentioning here.
2. File contents loss on reboot/power loss (even when files are edited and saved) are caused by disk write caching (defined by Microsoft as “lazy writer” in some of their documents).

Perhaps a combination of reasons will convince @donho at some point.

I doubt it. A lot of people (including me) had given him a lot of reasons already including the root cause of the problems and a possible fix.

Do remember it if you ever choose to fix the out-of-space bug by creating a new file

I though about it in the beginning when I was trying to figure out the cause of the write issues.

In my PR I actually use native Win32 file handling API as you do in your patch to avoid the fopen file contents erasure. There is no need to create new file in that case - forget that I mentioned it (it was just a possible and sub-optimal workaround to the first problem I gave above).

I am not convinced about disk caching explanation because this should have made it a common problem for lots of application.

If it helps in any way I also made a patch that changes Notepad++ file api. My reason was that fopen was resetting file permissions and ownership over SAMBA. Specifically losing the ‘execution’ permission of script files. Perhaps a combination of reasons will convince @donho at some point.
Do remember it if you ever choose to fix the out-of-space bug by creating a new file since it will introduce the same problem. A new file will have default permissions rather then the possibly specific permissions of the original file.

You are totally right about Notepad++ being mainly single-threaded and that the periodic backup uses multi-threading but that is not the problem.
I made PR maybe a year ago that fixed possible race conditions between the threads and it was merged. I also tested it at the time, @Claudia-Frank tested it too and periodic backups proved to be working properly.

The problem remains to be the disk write caching that delays the actual write to the disk which leads to loss of data on sudden power loss or reboot (due to update for example).
I actually did this PR to fix the problem and in relation to these reported issues (https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/issues/6133 and https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/issues/5664) but it was rejected.

Don has written in the release notes of the latest Notepad++ version this:

Fix Notepad++ doesn’t exit correctly while Windows 10 update restart.

I don’t know if that helps though and in what cases.
Here is the link: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/v7.8.5/

@Shrikant-Shrinivas ,

I’m sorry for your data loss, Notepad++ can really do better in that situation but I would advise you to always save your work and close Notepad++ when leaving the computer for longer periods (especially don’t leave it open overnight) to minimize the chances of this happening.
You could try using Recuva to try recovering your lost files.

BR

Notepad++ like other legacy GUI applications is almost entirely single threaded running the Windows message loop.
Last time I looked (admittedly long ago) it seemed that the snapshot feature adds multithreading into Notepad++ which is not properly synchronized/locked with the rest of the single threaded code. I believe that if “shit happens” when this backup thread is active, either files may be wiped or empty files are written into the backup and these empty files are restored on the next restart overwriting the OK files. I never enabled this feature and never lost a file.

Feel free to use “Remember Current Session” since this feature just tell the main thread to save file locations before Notepad++ exits.

Some people are so lazy/unresponsible that they never save files and expect the snapshot to remember their modified files. But they really deserve to lose a few hours (or days) of work from time to time.

I have ticked “Remember Current Session for next Launch”
And also “Enable Session Snapshot and Periodic Backup”. with a Backup every 7 seconds.

But what is the Use of having a Session Backup System which will ditch you when you need it the most.

If there is a Periodic Session Backup system, then where are the Previous Backups. Can Notepad++ not recognize when it is over-writing a File with Data, with a Blank file.

We of course appreciate the Functionality of Notepad++ and fall heavily on it. We build our castles on it, and then type out data trusting it to keep it intact. And just when we least expect it, it pulls the rug from under the feet, and presents us a Neat Blank Page…

I’m sorry, I couldn’t understand well your last post.
You know, every program has it’s flaws (some might be really critical), they stay dormant and unnoticed but when they appear and are known they get fixed and the cycle repeats.

If you decide to continue using Notepad++ get version 7.6 or bigger and you shouldn’t have problems like the one you described.

If not the v7.2 is there a version attainable you might recommend?

Thank you, So if I have this correct, I will go to my version 7.2 under:
Settings > Preferences > Backup
and uncheck the ‘Remember current session for next launch’? and
uncheck the 'Enable session snapshot and periodic backup,
remove the timer variables if they need removed after these are unchecked (I’m assuming they wont)
remove path, and leave None as None.

Erasing ones programs is beyond MESSED UP, I would expect that kind of thing as a ploy for an
application to get one to turn pro/ proprietary ware, or a competitors taking advantage
of a weakness or vulnerability. thank you all again for your time. I see no real
altermative but to try to find another useable code editor, preferably one
that doesn’t just up and erase my stuff.

If you are going to stick with your version 7.2, I would suggest you turn all “backup” options off…and see what happens going forward…good luck.

Does the problem occur often?
Is your Notepad++ periodic backup feature turned ON?

Notepad++ version 7.6 has fix for this issue (or similar) so I’m trying to figure out if the fix covers your case as well.
Please update Notepad++ if you can and try with it.
I have to warn you though that the plugins installation and location paths have changed in 7.6 and that may lead to problems finding your plugins. You might need to manually fix that but there is nothing to worry about. You can find info about the new 7.6 plugin handling and paths in the community posts or here as well: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/notepad-7.6-released.html .

current version: Notepad++v7.2 (64-bit)
listed under plugins: Converter, MIME Tools
Path 1st and 2nd instance of: C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
Path 3rd instance of: somewhere else, on hard drive.
Admin mode : not sure and I can’t find where that would be listed
Local Conf mode : not sure and I can’t find where that would be listed
OS : Windows 10 (64-bit)

No changes, no reicently installed programs, Notepad++'s machine never goes online.

saves were ‘Save’ not ‘Save as’

No use of online cloud anything ever.
First 2 deletions large file 3821 lines (145 KB)
Third deletion was small file.
The spellcorrect/suggestions thing was acting oddly between 2nd and third deletion incidents,
changing things on occasion.

wifi was active in vacinity during all deletion incidents but not connected on machine. ( I’m Mike above)

What is your Notepad++ version and could you briefly describe what exactly happened?

Notepad++ v7.5.8 (32-bit)
Build time : Jul 23 2018 - 02:03:53
Path : C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
Admin mode : OFF
Local Conf mode : OFF
OS : Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
Plugins : ComparePlugin.dll DSpellCheck.dll mimeTools.dll NppConverter.dll NppExport.dll

As I said previously, I am wondering if the “underlying” formatting for the original file (what we don’t see but is necessary to create a file behind the scenes) was corrupted.

Time will tell since I recently copy-pasted the data in the original file to a “new” file, thus getting rid of the old one completely. There is no connection between the two. This “may” resolve the issue.

Cheers
Claudia

Yes, please let us know whether the content-copied version of the file has the same problems as the original.

The file sizes you mention are not large files, so it’s probably not an issue with large files. The session backup with huge files (roughly >100MB, IIRC) has had reported issues of zeroing out files before, but I’ve never heard of it doing that for such small files.

If it doesn’t solve it for you, the Notepad++ > ? menu is found on the menu bar of the Notepad++ window, and Debug Info is in that menu. See below image for reference.

And answering @pnedev’s question for clarification on your template would help us help you, too.

And, as regards making sure I didn’t lose any more data: If I were in your situation, I would either automate version control software, as outlined below; or use cloud storage to your advantage, as descibed further below.

Version Control Automation

1. Use my standard version control software (TortoiseSVN, Git, etc) to make sure that I would never loose too much data.
2. Use a plugin such as NppExec, PythonScript, or LuaScript to automatically run an svn commit or equivalent. For example, in NppExec:

   • I save the following script as “SvnCommit”

     NPP_SAVE
     cd "$(CURRENT_DIRECTORY)"
     INPUTBOX "SVN commit $(FILE_NAME)" : "Message: " :
     cmd /c svn commit $(FILE_NAME) -m "$(INPUT)"
     cmd /c svn update $(FILE_NAME)
     

   • and then I use Plugins > NppExec > Advanced Options to place the SvnCommit script in the Macros menu

3. Use Settings > Shortcut Mapper to assign a keyboard shortcut to the SvnCommit script.
4. Use that new keyboard shortcut every time you save this file

Cloud Automation

Alternatively, if you have a OneDrive, DropBox, or similar cloud-storage account, you could automate backing up your critical file into your cloud-storage folder:

1. edit your file in its normal location

2. save an NppExec script similar to the following as “SaveAndCopyToCloud”

   NPP_SAVE
   NPP_SENDMSG NPPM_SAVECURRENTFILEAS 1 "C:\Temp\$(FILE_NAME)"
   

3. place “SaveAndCopyToCloud” in the Macros menu as described above, assign shortcut, and use that shortcut to save the file and copy it to the cloud

But since not all cloud-storages keep backups, and it might write the 0byte version to the cloud, you might want to put some additional scripting between to only copy it to the cloud folder if the filesize is bigger than 0 (or some other threshold). I couldn’t immediately figure out how to grab the filesize with NppExec: I could probably do it by grabbing the output from the windows dir command into NppExec, and somehow parsing it… but at that point, I’d probably switch to a different scripting language – I would do it in perl for myself, since I’m more comfortable in perl… but given that the random NPP user probably doesn’t have perl isntalled, I would probably suggest Python, because you could easily get an installation of Python integrated with NPP using the above link to the PythonScript download.

If you would like a PythonScript solution to save the current file, then save a copy to a specified directory only if file-size is bigger than 0bytes (or some larger threshold), someone here could probably code it up pretty quick. I would need your patience and a day or two, because I’m not a Python coder, and have spent my distraction time for this morning on this reply, especially looking into the NppExec particulars for “save current file as”, but could probably figure it out eventually. However, there are plenty of people here with more Python/PythonScript experience than I have that could probably cobble together the save/filesize-check/copy-to-another-folder in a few minutes, if they want to take that challenge.

Anyway, good luck

Could you please also clarify the following:

It seems to happen on one particular file (or files derived from one particular file. I use what I call a “template” when starting a new file, using the “layout” from one file and “saving as” another file (deleting the parts not needed in the new file and adding new data that applies to the new file. I hope this is clear.

When you say you are using one particular file as template how are you doing that? You open the template file and use “Save As” command? Or you are using the “Save a Copy As” command?
That is important, thank you for providing that info.

FYI: The “-noPlugin” option is provided on the command line if you are starting Notepad++ from the Windows cmd. You can also disable the plugins if you go to your N++ install folder, plugins subfolder and move all DLL files to the disabled subfolder there. To enable them again move them back as they where. However, I don’t think they are related to the issue you are seeing.

BR

• I am using the very last version provided.

• I don’t seem to find where the debug info is located.

• The plugin manager says the following plugins are installed. I have not installed any plugins except as provided automatically when upgrading.
  Converter
  MIME Tools
  others shown outside the PM that are: not listed in plugin manager)
  Npp Export
  NppFTP

*-noPlugin command-line argument: where does this go? I don’t know IF I should add this. I also don’t think I use any of the default plugins installed.

• Files are in the range of 4kb to 120 kb.

• Saved on a laptop hard disk.

• It seems to happen on one particular file (or files derived from one particular file. I use what I call a “template” when starting a new file, using the “layout” from one file and “saving as” another file (deleting the parts not needed in the new file and adding new data that applies to the new file. I hope this is clear.

• I have just tried to resolve this problem by copying the data from the problem file, deleting the problem file, then creating a “new” file by pasting in the data and saving it as a new file. If it had anything to do with the underlying “formatting” of the old file I hope this might solve the problem. Only time will tell.

• I was not aware of the backup settings. The first two boxes were checked and backup every 7 seconds, I assume the default setting. Changed it to 60 seconds. Backup on Save was none, changed it to “simple.” The problem is that it only saves one backup and erases previous backups by overwriting the previous one, sometimes leaving a backup with 0 bytes. It should save at least the last 3 backups to be fully effective. Maybe this can be an upgrade for a future release.

• The crash occurs when I “attempt” to “save” a file (which I do every time I add a little bit of new data). Thus, backup may not be effective at times as it erases the previous one.

• I use NPP primarily to construct and modify web pages. It is very good for that. Do NOT want to use Windows Notepad.

• I have not recently installed another application.

I hope that this will help give you a better idea of the issue.

It sounds vaguely like other issues I’ve seen on the forums – and it often has to do with very large files, or saving to network locations.

You’ve given no details, which means anyone who tries to help you is just guessing. Please help us help you:

• What version of Notepad++ are you using, and what plugins are installed ( Notepad++ > ? menu > Debug Info > Copy debug info into clipboard )?
• if you run notepad++ with the -noPlugin command-line argument, does the problem persist?
• How big is your file (kB, MB, GB)?
• Where are they saved (harddrive, USB stick, network location, cloud folder)?
• Does it happen for every file you edit, or just this one (or just a few)? If not every file, what’s the difference between this file (these files) and the ones that don’t crash.
• Did you recently change something (especially in Settings > Preferences > Backup or > Cloud)?
  • what are your backup settings?
• Did you recently install some other new unrelated application?

Also, please remember that, while sometimes some of the developers visit, these forums are primarily populated by fellow users of NPP – and those who regularly read here generally want to help others.